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Parents open up about daughter's death after new study shows alcohol-related deaths up

Posted: 4:04 PM, Nov 19, 2018

Updated:2018-11-19 21:04:07Z

By:
Corey Rangel

A new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found in the past 10 years, the number of deaths attributed to alcohol has gone up 35 percent. Among women, alcohol-related deaths soared 85 percent.

Ron and June Byrd know the pain of watching a loved one struggle with alcohol. They helplessly watched their daughter, Erika, fight it for years.

“It would have to be in all caps: helpless. As a father, I was supposed to be able to fix things. I couldn't fix it,” Ron Byrd says.

After becoming partner at her law firm, doctors diagnosed Erika with breast cancer. Her parents say she became depressed, and it made her drinking worse.

Rehab didn’t work.

“Despite our best effort, her friends’ best efforts, her best efforts, it was to no avail,” says Ron. “And it killed her.”